…ok, not that long, but well over ten years ago the boys (who are young adults now, but still my boys) started setting aside t-shirts that were special to them. Even though they no longer fit, they were favorites or sentimental for a variety of reasons.
The plan was I would make a t-shirt quilt for each of them. It would be a high school graduation gift.
Yep…that didn’t happen. Something always got in the way. Mainly myself and poor time management. Or myself and not wanting them to grow up too quickly. But last year I promised to start finishing the many unfinished projects. Top of the list…their quilts. I could at least finish them before they graduated from college.
I learned a great trick from Escape to the Chateau. I put iron-on interfacing on the backs of the t-shirt to make it less stretchy. I cut each shirt, added the interfacing, and then started plotting the squares for older son’s blanket.
I had never made a quilt before. And I still haven’t. I will call this a blanket, but it is not a quilt. I had to rip out many seams along the way and start some parts over a couple of times. But I have learned a lot that will make younger son’s blanket easier to make. Older son’s blanket is like the first pancake…comes out a little hinky. But fold a seam here and there to make a cleaner line, add satin ribbon on the top and bottom so it is reminiscent of Elmo’s blanket (their favorite childhood blankies…which they still have), and sew it with a lot of love (and quite a few colorful curse words).
And that hinkyness didn’t matter one bit to older son. He absolutely loves it. And I finished a project! There’s no stopping me now.
ohbloodyhell8 